Symic Biomedical Selects Vascular Clinical Candidate

SAN FRANCISCO, July 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Symic Biomedical announced today the selection of SBCV-030 as the clinical candidate for the company's first vascular program. In preclinical studies SBCV-030 inhibits the scarring response that occurs when a vessel is injured. Initially, clinical indications where acute injuries are caused by vascular surgery or percutaneous intervention will be pursued.  SBCV-030 will be delivered locally at the time of the procedure. SBCV-030 will be first investigated in peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, a disease that affects approximately eight million Americans according to the Center for Disease Control, or CDC. The first-in-human clinical trial has been approved in Australia and New Zealand, with enrollment expected to begin in the first quarter of 2016.  Final study data is anticipated approximately 12 months later.

"This trial will be an exciting first step for Symic to demonstrate the safety and performance of SBCV-030, our first clinical candidate coming from our proteoglycan mimetic platform," said Kenneth N. Horne, CEO of Symic Biomedical. "SBCV-030 has potential to benefit patients undergoing any vascular interventional surgical procedure, millions of patients a year according to the CDC.  We are eager to start demonstrating its potential."

During vascular procedures the fragile inner lining of the vessel, called the endothelium, is damaged leading to denudation. This exposes collagen in the subendothelium.  Platelets bind to and are activated by the collagen, triggering a cascade that results in smooth muscle cell, or SMC, proliferation and eventually the formation of neointimal hyperplasia and re-closing of the vessel. Current therapies include the administration of anti-platelet therapy (e.g. aspirin, clopidogrel) and anti-proliferatives like Taxols (e.g. drug eluting stents, drug eluting balloons). Anti-platelet agents beneficially reduce platelets, but are systemic and increase the risk of bleeding due to other injuries. Anti-proliferative agents beneficially prevent SMC proliferation, but also prevent re-endothelialization. As a consequence, when the anti-proliferative wears off, the cascade leading to neointimal hyperplasia continues. In contrast, SBCV-030 locally prevents platelet activation to the injured site and promotes re-endothelialization for complete healing of the vessel wall.

About Symic Biomedical (www.SymicBio.com)
Symic Biomedical is developing a new category of therapeutics that offer an exciting and biologically innovative approach to treating disease.  Symic's compounds function like proteoglycans, important structural and functional macromolecules native to the ECM (extracellular matrix).  The ECM is the non-cellular component of tissues that is critical for healthy tissue function.  Components of the ECM, particularly proteoglycans, play a critical role in healing upon injury and in chronic diseases Symic's molecules function in a similar manner.  Symic is targeting the ECM using its proprietary and novel proteoglycan mimetics, and will advance its compounds in a variety of acute and chronic therapeutic areas with significant unmet clinical needs.

Symic Biomedical, Inc. is a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Symic Holdings, LLC, its parent company with the strategic mandate to invest in and develop technology designed to address significant unmet medical needs critical to improved treatments. Symic Holdings, LLC also structures Symic Biomedical's transactions and investments.

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SOURCE Symic Biomedical